The ACSP Officers and Governing shared the message and statement below with ACSP members. I want to reiterate the encouragement to share your feedback and recommendations for further action. In addition, please share your insights, stories, and strategies related to how your planning programs, faculty, students, and communities are experiencing and responding to this quickly changing environment.

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Dear ACSP members,

We are pleased to share a statement on President Trump's recent executive order titled "Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States." We are grateful to those who have encouraged ACSP to make a statement and also appreciate your patience as we have engaged with members of the Governing Board on the content. The statement was unanimously approved by the Governing Board and is provided below, as well as posted to the ACSP website.

In addition to sharing this statement, we are actively reaching out and communicating with other scholarly and professional associations on the executive order, as well as emerging legislation and a proposed boycott by international scholars of U.S. conferences. As always, we welcome your feedback on this statement and your ideas about further actions that we can take relative to the executive order and the quickly changing landscape that is impacting our students, our institutions, and our work as planning scholars and instructors. The ACSP Executive Committee is meeting this weekend and will discuss ways that the ACSP can be more responsive to emerging issues and ways that we can support our planning schools and programs and our broader membership. This conversation is just the start, so please reach out to us with your feedback on priorities and your interests in engaging with us.

ACSP officers and elected Governing Board members are deeply concerned about the recent executive order issued by the new White House administration that amounts to a ban of entry to the U.S. for citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries and halt admission of refugees, and other official statements concerning vulnerable populations, such as “Dreamers”, LGBTQ, and others.

"As educators, these restrictions and statements undermine our ability to foster the diversity among students, staff, and faculty that enhances our teaching, learning, research, and societal impact. As planning researchers and instructors, these policies harden divisions among us when the great challenges that we face today – social inequalities, climate change, and degrading infrastructure – demand collaborative responses that are global in scope and commitment. Already in a matter of days, we have seen firsthand the pain and damage that the executive order and statements have caused among our colleagues, neighbors, friends, and loved ones. We will do all we can to fight these unjust and deeply harmful actions and intentions. We strengthen our commitment to maintain and advance the field of planning as a diverse international community that brings people together toward greater understanding to better respond to our global challenges."

If you have not already done so, also consider signing this petition as more than tens of thousands of faculty across the U.S. have done to protest the said executive order. The petition is limited to academics.